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Understanding Post Performance Letdown

“Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” ― Dorothy M. Neddermeyer

Last week’s
post, Understanding Performance Anxiety, discussed the body’s physiological
reaction to performance stress that results in feeling of anxiety before the performance
begins.This week’s post will address
the physiological changes that occur after the performance is over that often
result in feelings of sadness or depression known as post performance letdown.

Dancers spend months training and
rehearsing for performances, and while they are in the throes of it, it seems
like the rehearsals will never end, but they do. Suddenly dancers’ bodies get a break, tired
and achy muscles get to rest, schedules return to normal, and dancers can
return to a life outside of the dark, windowless theaters. Sighs of relief are audible but are often
followed by something called the post performance letdown. Dancers become acutely aware of lingering
aches throughout the body, they have difficulty getting out of bed in the
morning, and are often overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and/or symptoms of
depression.

Dancers
spend months creating a work of art that disappears as soon as the costumes are
packed, dance floors are removed, and props are struck from the theater
stage. No other production will ever be
exactly the same. Dance is ephemeral,
and psychologically, dancers may be mourning this loss. Their goals have been achieved, the roles are
no longer theirs, and they no longer get to hear the positive feedback from
applauding audiences.

It will
help dancers to know and understand that there are definite physiological
reasons for these feelings as well.
During intense bouts of physical exercise, the body releases high levels
of neurotransmitters, proteins, stress hormones, and endorphins.

The
increased amount of neurotransmitters helps carry messages quickly and
efficiently from the muscles to the brain and back to the muscles along nerve
pathways. The neurotransmitters
norepinephrine and serotonin increase heart rate and blood flow and have also
been connected to improved moods. The
neurotransmitter dopamine also acts as an analgesic, relieving or dulling pain.

The
proteins that are released stimulate growth in the nervous system to help
increase the body’s response time as well as provide for cell growth to keep
the overworked muscles strong and functioning.

Adrenaline
and cortisol are stress hormones secreted by the adrenal glands. Adrenaline increases the rate of heart
contractions, which results in quicker blood flow throughout the body. It also relaxes the bronchioles, or breathing
tubes found in the lungs, to allow oxygen to pass into the blood and carbon
dioxide to leave the blood faster.

Adrenaline also signals the pancreas to produce more
insulin. Insulin is what allows the
muscles to use the glucose that is in the blood to create energy.

When
cortisol is released, it signals the liver to start converting stored energy
into glucose for the body to use.
Cortisol also diverts energy away from activities that are considered
low priority during physical activity and redirects that energy toward the
muscles. Although adrenaline levels rise
and fall quickly, cortisol levels rise gradually and return to normal very
slowly.

All of
these physiological changes move the body into a hyper vigilant, excited, and
blissful state. When the production
comes to an end, and the body’s state begins to return to normal, everything
begins to slow down. The heart rate
decreases, blood flow slows, respiration returns to normal, and nerve and cell
growth return to a normal pace. The
conversion of glucose to energy slows down, dopamine levels decrease so any
muscle soreness or pain is no longer dulled, and the blissful state created by
the released endorphins also disappears.
Since cortisol levels rise and fall slowly, elevated levels stay in the
body for a longer period of time, and high levels of cortisol have been linked
to symptoms of depression.

It is
helpful for dancers to know that post performance letdown is a very real
phenomenon. The feelings of sadness or
depression that dancers may experience after a performance are simply a result
of the physiological changes that occur as the body moves from a heightened,
alert state to a normal one. This bit of
knowledge and simply understanding what is causing these extreme feelings can
help dancers cope with post performance letdown.